New Insights into Shale Fracturing Treatment Design

Gomaa, Ahmed M.; Qu, Qi; Nelson, Scott G.; Maharidge, Russell

doi:10.2118/167754-ms

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…With the increase of the overburden pressure, the breakdown pressure increases both with water and thermochemical. Similar results were also observed by Gomaa et al [58] on Mancos shale when water was used as a fracturing fluid. Figure 17 shows the breakdown pressures at unconfined condition, 500 psi overburden pressure, and 1000 psi overburden pressures.…”

Section: Effect Of Overburdensupporting

confidence: 89%

An Experimental Study to Reduce the Fracture Pressure of High Strength Rocks Using a Novel Thermochemical Fracturing Approach

et al. 2019

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Current oil prices and global financial situations underline the need for the best engineering practices to recover remaining oil from unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs. These hydrocarbon reservoirs are mostly situated in deep and overpressured formations, with high rock strength and integrity. Breakdown pressure of the rock is a function of their tensile strength and in situ stresses acting on them. Fracturing stimulation techniques become challenging when treating these types of rocks, and many cases approached to the operational limits. This leaves a small operational window to initiate and place hydraulic fractures. In this study, a new methodology to reduce the breakdown pressure of the high stressed rock is presented. The new method enables the fracturing of high stressed rocks more economically and efficiently. Fracturing experiments were carried out on different blocks, and the breakdown pressure was measured by creating a simulated borehole at the center of the block. Thermochemical fluids were injected to create the microfractures. These microfractures improved the permeability and porosity and reduced the elastic strength of the subjected samples prior to the main hydraulic fracturing job. The posttreatment experimental analysis confirmed the presence of microfractures which were originated due to the pressure pulse generated from the thermochemical reaction. The results of this study showed that the newly formulated method of thermochemical fracturing reduced the breakdown pressure by 38% in slim borehole blocks and 60% in large borehole blocks. Results also showed that the breakdown time to initiate the fractures was reduced to 19% in slim borehole blocks and 17% in large borehole blocks. The reduction in breakdown pressure and breakdown time happened due to the creation of microfractures by the pressure rise phenomenon in a new thermochemical fracturing approach.

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Section: Effect Of Overburdensupporting

confidence: 89%

An Experimental Study to Reduce the Fracture Pressure of High Strength Rocks Using a Novel Thermochemical Fracturing Approach

et al. 2019

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“…Gomaa et al, [23] have verified experimentally that the direction in which Beddings are accommodated directly influences fracturing pressure and pumping time.…”

Section: Distribution and Orientation Of Natural Fracturesmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…• Pressure and pumping flow of the fracturing fluid, because the higher the injection flow, the lower the pressure required in the pumping of the fracture fluid to overcome the resistance limit of the rock and generate the fracture [23];…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensitivity Analysis of the Influence of Fracturing Spacing in the Construction of Complex Fractures Network for Exploration and Production of Shale Gas/Shale Oil

Fern¹,

Fern²,

es³

et al. 2019

Journal of Petroleum & Environmental Biotechnology Researc

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Shales reservoirs have a high degree of anisotropy due to the presence of natural fractures (NFs) and also the orientation of beddings. Thus, hydraulically induced fractures (HFs) interact with natural fractures and generate a network of fractures with complex geometry. The existence of NFs modifies the stress field in the shale and directly influences the geomechanical behaviour of the HFs during the fracturing operation, generating branches in the dominant fracture and contributing to the complex network of fractures. The construction of a network of fractures increases significantly the conductivity of the formation, as it connects previously isolated fractures and pores, thus increasing the productivity index of the wells and providing greater economic viability in the shale gas/oil reservoir designs. This work presents a sensitivity analysis of the influence of fracturing spacing in the construction of the network of complex fractures generated in shales, aiming to understand how this parameter modifies the volume of stimulated reservoir (SRV) and the distribution of propant in the network of fractures, in order to avoid problems in this step of the design and thus, maintain the economic viability of the network. The literature review includes the main published works on this subject and the unconventional fracture models (UFM) used to model the network of complex fractures. Sensitivity analysis will be performed using the MShale software, which uses a stochastic model of the discrete fracture network (DFN) method and numerically solves the equilibrium equations and pore elasticity for shales in terms of effective stresses, in addition to mass conservation equations, linear momentum and energy with viscous dissipation for stokes creeping flow. For the analysis, the other parameters that influence the construction of the network will be kept constant and only the spacing between fracturing will have variation.

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“…Gomaa et al [29] experimentally verified that the direction in which the foundations are accommodated, directly influencing the fracturing pressure and no pumping time, where parallel foundations use rock fracture with lower pressures and shorter pumping time.…”

Section: Direction Of Beddingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomechanics and Flow Parameters that Influence Shale Gas/Shale Oil’s Design

Fern¹,

Fern²,

es³

et al. 2020

J Pet Environ Biotechnol

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Unconventional reservoirs (NCR) have been responsible for an important revolution in the volume and profile of gas production in the USA and are now arousing interest of other countries e.g. China, Canada, Argentina and Australia. In most of the NCR, the development of production has been made possible through horizontal wells with multiple transverse fractures. In order to optimize the well hydraulic fracturing design for exploration and production's development of shale gas/shale oil, is required to understand the key parameters that influence in the complex fractures network. In terms of reservoir stimulation through horizontal wells, the practice by smaller operators came before the theory, generating nice results and promoting theoretical development. The recent join of big operators into the unconventional reservoirs environment raised about the huge volumes of fluids and propping agents used in the complex fractures network, have generated some questions about shale gas/shale oil well stimulation. This work presents the main parameters that have influence on the complex fractures network built in shales, aiming to understand their effects in shale rock in order to avoid problems and optimize the hydraulic fracturing design.

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New Insights into Shale Fracturing Treatment Design

Cited by 20 publications

References 9 publications

An Experimental Study to Reduce the Fracture Pressure of High Strength Rocks Using a Novel Thermochemical Fracturing Approach

An Experimental Study to Reduce the Fracture Pressure of High Strength Rocks Using a Novel Thermochemical Fracturing Approach

Sensitivity Analysis of the Influence of Fracturing Spacing in the Construction of Complex Fractures Network for Exploration and Production of Shale Gas/Shale Oil

Geomechanics and Flow Parameters that Influence Shale Gas/Shale Oil’s Design

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